"They amuse her when her head's bad and she doesn't care to see anybody.

She's made most of them wonderfully tame." Mrs.Haselford proved to be a gentle pleasant lady who shook hands kindly with Ingred, then excused herself on the score of ill-health, and retired to her room, leaving the girls to have tea by themselves.
"Mother's never been really well for three years," said Bess.

"Not since Bert and Larry----" She did not finish her sentence, but her eyes turned to the wall where hung two portraits of lads in khaki.

Ingred understood.

She knew that Bess had lost both brothers in the war, and she had heard that poor Mrs.
Haselford had shut herself up in her grief and refused all comfort, sometimes even to the extent of remaining for days upstairs, and neglecting the company of husband and child.